From the “Quiet on the Set” documentary to the ‘downfall’ of Amanda Bynes adding to the long list of fallen child stars, viewers are finally having a serious discussion on the major impacts children go through when they are in the limelight and how child acting may need to end for the benefit of children.

With recent photos resurfacing of iconic child star Amanda Bynes, famously known for playing Viola in “She’s the Man” and Daphne in “What a Girl Wants,” fans are growing concerned for the actress. While she is no longer on acting, Bynes fell into everyone’s hearts as a quirky and talented young girl, and seeing the drastic change from being in hit musicals like “Hairspray” to having severe residual breakdowns on TikTok to being put in a psychiatric ward for walking the streets of Los Angeles naked, fans are now reflecting on how Bynes is not the first, nor will she be the last child star who has been killed by the industry.

Macaulay Culkin suffered a severe drug addiction, Lindsay Lohan went to jail three times, Britney Spears’ brain was destroyed from lithium and Demi Lovato started speaking to ghosts. And this is just a handful of the numerous child stars that deserve justice.

By being put in the limelight at such a young age with adults who are ready to manipulate child-like minds and parents who are blinded by the exponential growth in their bank account, the typical child star rarely has adult figures vouching for their mental health and safety.

Additionally, it is incredibly difficult to balance being a child while working a full time job like an adult.

The Olsen twins, for example, began working on their first season of “Full House” as infants, and continued until they were teenagers. Regardless of whether young actors are taken advantage of, these long work hours with immense pressure can cause psychological damage in their brains.

Future psychology student Jordan Ingram believes that the best actors know how to mentally destabilize themselves to convince themselves that they are somebody else to accurately portray a certain character. “It takes great skill to master this craft and requires immense training. Completely manipulating one’s emotions day to day can cause immense mental damage, so when a child, whose brain is nowhere near developed, takes on this craft, the effects are life changing,” Ingram explains.

Amanda Bynes herself played the most traumatic roles a child could be given, often portraying multiple personalities. At just the age of six, she was playing a bipolar child on the show “All That” in which she would act in a skit called “Ask Ashley.” In the skit, she began by cheerfully reading a letter, but in just seconds this persona would morph into one of aggression and anger. As she grew up, she continued to play characters with split personalities. With an entire show centered around Bynes playing over 15 characters all in one program, she forced her brain to go through various traumas every day in order to become more successful.

Furthermore, child stars are not just impacted by their work, but by the horrific adults around them.

The most current news relating to this issue revolves around Nickelodeon film producer Dan Shneider, who was involved in a multitude of famous Nickelodeon shows including “ICarly”, “Drake and Josh”, and “Victorious.”

Numerous child stars from these shows have come out with allegations against Scneider’s behaviors on set, saying he placed suggestive sexual jokes in kids’ shows, asked kids on set to give him massages and even refused to allow parents on set.

In an interview with “ICarly” actor BooG!e, Schnieder responded to the accusations, placing significant blame on dialogue coach and convicted child sex abuser Brian Peck, insisting he had no part in Peck’s hiring. He also said in the interview that he is embarrassed, regretful of his behavior and owes people an apology.

But an apology cannot reverse the lifelong trauma he has caused to vulnerable, young actors.
Former “Zoey 101” star Alexa Nikolas declined to forgive Schnieder, stating in a new YouTube video that she would have preferred a private apology. “I know everyone deals with their own emotions in their own way, but I don’t feel anything from you, Dan,” Nikolas said.

As someone who enjoyed Nickelodeon as a child, sophomore Lauren Bock questions, “With emotional trauma from work and unsafe environments on set, it makes you wonder where the parents of these children are in these situations, ” Bock ponders.

While some child stars, like Mila Kunis, were able to choose that life for themselves without parental pressure or interference in their income, as Kunis’s parents, to this day, refuse to accept a dime from her, even if it’s as simple as paying for dinner, many child stars aren’t as fortunate.

In the past for child acting, oftentimes it was the parents that were the real villains to their children.

Ingram recollects how “Full House” twins, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen started acting at just six months old. “Their mother knew that twins would be more likely to get hired, as it would be easier to switch from child to child when one isn’t cooperating on set, and that twins had a greater appeal in the industry,” Ingram states.

Eventually as the Olsen twins got more and more attention, they were paying the bills and even when begging to leave the acting, their mother made it a non negotiable due to the exponential increase in their income.

Usually children want to begin acting from their own passion, but often parents force upon their kids knowing they have the potential to be successful and make them money, which is incredibly toxic.

Hollywood can not only take a toll on its actors, but on the families as the great sums of money can often blind parents into being more greedy and using their children for more fame and fortune.

Given the ease with which children can be manipulated in this industry not only by the authority figure they are surrounded by, but also their own parents, and given the drastic changes a child can go through facing a strenuous job at such a young age, we must question whether the life long, detrimentally scarring impacts are worth our entertainment.